STATEN ISLAND -- Staten Island’s elected officials fear the West Shore could see increased contamination if a New Jersey project to construct a recycling plant for contaminated soil is pushed through.

The “Rahway Arch” project would take a 125-acre tract of land along the Rahway River -- which feeds directly into the Arthur Kill -- and place a soil recycling operation for chemically contaminated soil within a 100-year flood plain that was flooded by Hurricane Sandy.

Staten Island officials believe insufficient consideration was given to the borough by the New Jersey agencies regarding permits issued for this project, and they are calling for New York agencies to undertake their own study.

Assembly members Joseph Borelli (R-South Shore), Nicole Malliotakis (R-East Shore/Brooklyn), Michael Cusick (D-Mid-Island) and Matthew Titone (D-North Shore, joined with state Senate members Andrew Lanza (R-Staten Island) and Diane Savino (D-North Shore/Brooklyn), and City Councilmen Vincent Ignizio (R-South Shore), and Steven Matteo (R-Mid-Island/Brooklyn), plus Borough President James Oddo and Rep. Michael Grimm to formally request the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) and the city's Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to investigate the proposal.

“There has been significant public and academic criticism of the proposed recycling project, over which New Jersey’s environmental agencies have issued permits,” Borelli said. “Since the Rahway River empties into the Arthur Kill and Raritan Bay, we believe it may fall under some jurisdictional oversight of the EPA and New York State DEC, and hope that those agencies will ensure that the quality of Staten Island, its coastline and its waters are maintained.”

The officials wrote to the regional director of the federal EPA expressing their concerns.

“We write to you to express our deep concern over the proposed ‘Rahway Arch’ project, which intends to establish a chemical waste repository on land along the Rahway River directly opposite of Staten Island,” reads the letter. “This ‘soil recycling’ project calls for millions of tons of highly chemically contaminated soil to be trucked in and dispersed over the property to act as a cap over the acres of cyanide-contaminated sludge that American Cyanamid dumped there for over 50 years.”

Titone is concerned New Jersey officials did not take Staten Island -- or the impact of a massive storm surge -- into consideration.

"This is something clearly our local DEC should weigh in on because clearly this will have an impact on Staten Island, said Titone, who is on the Assembly's Environmental Conservation Committee and a subcommittee with DEC oversight.

Borough officials are requesting that water runoff and potential storm surge situations be examined to determine if any contamination could potentially harm Staten Island.

“When you consider the experience we have had on Staten Island with pollution, it is prudent to approach any project that involves contaminated soil with an abundance of caution,” Ignizio said. “If New Jersey is going to have any environmental problems or concerns with this project, we would like to know before it becomes our problem.”

The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection issued conditional approval in May 2013 for the project.

Borelli discovered this project through his own research about two months ago, he said.

“We hope that the DEC weighs in and the EPA steps in,” Borelli said.

Not being an environmental expert, Borelli felt he should reach out to the experts. If their review raises concerns he and the Island’s other elected officials will follow up with the appropriate authorities, he said.